Day of the Woman

I have often thought I would like to do a collage.  I have  never done one before and had little idea how to start. I did a few turns around YouTube for help.  Well you tear up bits of magazines and glue them to a support, but what about an idea....it grew as I started tearing and glued down a picture of a beautiful young woman. As it is the Day of the Woman, I looked for and found words that pertain to women.    I thought 'sacrifices' was a good word. 'Menopause' is another, as that was where we all were heading, or were past it, having been in love, suffered the pain of child birth, raised children, kept house, tried to lose weight and stay fit, fought wrinkles, suffered or suffering menopause, and lost the battle of the bulge, it fitted. I could not find a picture of an 'older' woman in the magazines I had.  They were all skinny role models, the ones women struggle to emulate.  I finally found a painting of an old woman and a pretty fan behind which she could hide her ageing face.  

My composition took shape.   Done...my first collage!

My fingers covered in glue, I carried my masterpiece upstairs to plant on the mantle.  Well, there it is, my tribute to women, ordinary mothers, grandmothers, aunts, daughters, nieces, and even great grandmothers.

Seahorses

It must have been Seahorse day.  As soon as we arrived at Rio Mar I saw them and decided we needed to keep Lucky on a short lead.  I was wrong.  She had no interest in them and we went for a slow stroll as 16 year old Poppy does not really want to go far or very fast. Lucky chased the ball and said hello to one or two dogs giving them an invitation to play.  No takers, so back she comes to us asking us to throw the ball.  I tried to take some photos, difficult with a dog pulling on the lead shaking the camera in the other hand.  Some of the photos are a little shaky but the horses were lovely.

 The horses were gathering at the edge of the water near the mouth of the river.  One was being led and although it was a very warm day, wore a stable blanket.  Treatment or treat for an unwell horse.

 "I don't care what you say, I am going no where near that wet stuff." 

and inspite of all the coaxing, he never did go in.  I was impressed with the rider's patience. 

 Most of the horses did not take much coaxing to go in and if they hesitated, were gently encouraged to enter the water.

 These two came out and going close to the reluctant horse, turned and re-entered the water

 to show him how easy it was.  No go, not any attempts to lure him in worked.

 Another rider joined the group.  They seemed to be coming from either direction and over a dozen horses and riders were assembled on the beach.

You can tell how much they enjoy the water by the attitude of their ears.  

It was good fun and beautiful to watch.

 Nice fast trots through the water strengthens the  legs.  The ground underneath is safe.

I know from swimming here, that there is nothing but sand here for miles out.  

There is a sand bar or two further out as well.

What a beautiful day to ride or walk on the beach at Rio Mar.

Some Favourite Fotos

 I have photos that are favourite not because they are particularly good, but are of a place or time that was memorable.  Am I on a memory thing, yes, it is partly due to my age, I know.

 I was diving in the Maldives when I came upon this group of snappers which did not disperse as I approached.  I stuck my camera in their midst and took this photo. I lingered surrounded by this fish and almost forgot I was a clumsy human.

 The Mediterranean can be so blue, it makes a perfect background for the grasses.

I love the sweep of the terraces and the lone man tending the fire. It was the loneliness of the agriculturist that struck me.  No mates to laugh and joke with, just nature and the need to produce. 

We had such rain fall in Spain one year, that the terraces were waterfalls as the water swept down the mountain.  In many cases they breached the ancient terracing and they collapsed.  This one was more gentle and the waterfall was so pretty I could not resist a snapshot.

 On a farm, far, far way, my father built a lake by damming up the stream that ran through the woods.  I often had dipped handful's of waters from this stream for a refreshing drink.  The water was sweet.  Today you would do this at your peril, or so the pundits would say.

Impressionistic

I am  trying to "loosen up" and do paintings that are more impressionistic.  I looked through my collection of reference photos from Wet Canvas to find a subject.  Ticktock1's photo of an elephant was just right. I loved the crop.  I got out my acrylics and a flat brush to experiment on a 5x7 canvas.  I bought a few of them when last in the UK.  The result is not unpleasant and I felt I had "loosened up" a bit.  I think I will leave it alone now.

There's more....

In the middle of my "From the Past" ATC trade my trusty computer on which all my scanned images of the finished ATCs were stored, went Kaaaaput!  It died, screen went black, and would not reboot.  The man at the PC shop shook his head and declared the mother board dead.  In short, I will probably need a new laptop shortly but in the meantime we have an old laptop called many names not polite; another long story.  It was too small, too slow, crumby screen and unreliable.  I pulled it out of the back of the cupboard and so now I have a working computer, albeit slow, inferior, but it works!!
  My friend who received a trade has been kind enough to scan and send me this copy.

This is a white glass Strawberry jam pot.  It is very old as it was my grandmother's.  I can remember it on my grandmother's breakfast table filled with her home made strawberry jam. So it could be over 70 years old. It became my mother's and upon needing to downsize her house contents, she passed it down to me!  It sits on a shelf as I would worry it could be broken if it was used.  I loved the vibrant red of the glass strawberry pattern on the white of the glass. It was not painted glass, must be moulded. Red was my favourite colour, then and still is. These are the small things that bring back memories, including smells, sounds and tastes of the past.   

Mementos

Trading cards (ATCs) are great fun and one of the latest projects I became involved in proved to be very  emotive as it was called "From the Past".  I chose to do "Mementos".  Wandering around the house I found several items with a memory going way back.

My oldest memento goes right back to my childhood.  As long as I can remember I have had this ugly little China dog. (This is its actual size.)  I would be really sad to lose it.  Turn it over and it says "Made in Japan!"  Oddly enough the war with Japan was not long over, so Japanese items were never highly valued.

I aquired this years ago and even bought it a little sweater on a visit to the States.  I took it on a diving trip to Egypt. It gets to travel around with me, even goes on walks with me tucked into my rucksack, or shopping, tucked in a pocket of my handbag. It is my lucky mascot.

Speaking of diving this little fish was a souvenir of a trip to the Maldives. It was such a marvellous place we went back the following year to dive again and video our dives.  What a wonderful place on this planet!

My daughter reminded me about this one.  She said, "it has been around forever."  

It was a gift from an friend, who had been to the Far East.  Its interior elastic had perished and I had to do some gluing to get it together again.  That was the end of its articulation.  It looks like new, except the hair is a curious colour as the sun has bleached it from black to purple.  I have restored the hair colour for the painting.

There are gifts that are very special.  Handmade ones are the best treasures of all.  I treasure this candle as it was made by my granddaughter Sophie, when she was in primary school.  It is a Christingle Candle which she spontaneously gave me when I visited their home. I think my daughter was a little surprised as she assumed it was going to be her keepsake.  But graciously she allowed me to take the gift, which I treasure to this day.  I always feel honoured to have been given this gift. I will leave it to my daughter in my will.  It is a treasure.

An Italian Venetian glass horse, a gift from a special high school boyfriend.  It still had a place in my home where ever it is.  A treasure from a long time ago.

I don't know where I got this and it is not really pretty as it is a poorly painted, cheap egg cup.

  But I cannot part with it as I have had it so long.

I have many mementos from my years living in Africa.  This rough hewn object came from Uganda, and is one of my first mementos acquired there.  I have not learned how to play it!

The Wonder dog! Bob Ford was my art teacher at my high school and he gave me so much encouragement when I was in his art class.  He also put me forth for a scholarship to the New York Phoenix School of design when I graduated.  As a collector of antiques he also had an antique shop in an refurbished chicken coop behind his house.  My mother and I used to go "Antiquing" there quite often.  When I left to go to New York Phoenix, he gave me this little toy.  Yes, I still have it.  I am such a squirrel.  Far too sentimental!  But it always reminds me of my years in his art class and the encouragement I had.

When I went to the school in New York I was interviewed by the headmistress, Miss Petersen.  She knew Bob Ford, as he had been a student there previously.  I got to know her quite well as one of the jobs I had to do to implement my scholarship was help her in the office.  My most hated task was sorting and folding the drapery that was used for the Still Life painting set ups, or for the models in the Life Drawing class.  The were mostly very old pieces of material and the lint and dust used to set off my hay fever.  However grumpy Miss Petersen was, I think she may have liked me as when I left she gave me this little plaster statue.  It had been given to her by Bob Ford when he attended the school.  So the two items have quite a connection; Both are very old!

There are times in life when there is no money Christmas gifts.  This was the case for my daughter going though her hardest time as a single mother.  The little ones, however, were quite determined to do Christmas gifts, so they were encouraged to make them. Then Jo, Kim and Sam went into the garden shed and found a rough piece of sawn off wood which my daughter helped them to decorate it with glitter and attach a golden cord for me to hang it with.  It is so precious because it was made with love and innocence, not money.

Córdoba

One of the items on my "Bucket List" was Córdoba.  It was with delight we found we could take a day trip from Almuñécar to visit the Mezquite at Córdoba.  The Cathedral and Mosque at Córdoba has a fantastic history, is of outstanding beauty and is a World Heritage Site.

Originally a pagan temple, it was a Christian church when the Moors converted it into a Mosque.  After the Moors were driven from Spain it was converted again and a Roman Catholic Cathedral was built into the middle of the mosque complex. 
I found the place awe inspiring.  You cannot help but feel the history as you walk the ancient floors and touch the fabulous pillars.  The work of the artisans is breathtaking.

 The view  as we cross over the bridge on the way to the Mezquite.

Entering the old town.

 The bell tower in the gardens of the Mezquite.

 The characteristic red and white stone arches are supported by marble pillars. You can see the lower parts of the columns are polished by the hands of the many admirers.

 When additional arches were built later on they could not afford the coloured stone, so the arches were painted to match.

 and

Incredible ceilings

  soaring arches.

Detail of stone work in the Choir part of the Christian church.

An impressive carved wooden altar. 

  The Altar

The bell tower was built around the existing minaret. 

 A small Mosque in the Muslim quarter.

  Shopping in the old town.

 In this lovely courtyard pots decorate the wall.

 Inside a tiny ancient Jewish synagogue in the Jewish quarter.

 Lovely musical tiles decorate the wall in the narrow street.

It would have been nice to go into this restaurant for a meal, but we did not have time.

 Walking back towards the Catedral.

We pass one of the doors to the Mezquite as we regrettably leave.

If given the chance I would return to Córdoba to see it again and explore more of the old town.